


Storm Signs

by Shining_star_rae



Series: Softly Dangerous [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, He does not know this, Hiruzen is a good person but Danzo and the Hokage-ship have tainted him, Mikoto has something to prove, Minato is a genius, Minato is weird, So does Uzumaki Mito, Storms are awesome, There have been signs, Uchiha Kagami is also awesome, everyone ignores them or are wrong, nor does he care, small mention of abuse, though he's not mentioned that much in this part
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 06:50:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14130456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shining_star_rae/pseuds/Shining_star_rae
Summary: "Are you properly ashamed of yourself for putting on a bad show?"Minato frowns at her. "I'm not ashamed. Why should I be? No one offered to teach me, and I was never told we would have a spar today."The girl hums in thoughtfulness.





	Storm Signs

On the day he is born, a storm is ravaging the country. Villages all over the Fire Country are hit with a devastating, constant, pounding of rain; no one had been outside in days and everyone was thankful it was not growing season. The wind howled hour after hour, pulling up roof tiles, knocking over signs and audacious humans alike; it broke any tree too weak to stand against it or any tree too stiff to bend. There was no benevolence here.

(There is a village that is discovered several days after the storm passes; it used to be the favorite gathering place of missing-nin, bandits, underground ring owners, and other kinds of terrible people.

It used to be a place filled to the brim with malice.

This village’s name will be forgotten in time, the only reason the village will ever be remembered is for the sole reason that it no longer exists. The storm destroyed every last area of land the village claimed as its own. Any who were above ground at the time of the storm were found dead.)

Other countries have been warned not to enter. With reports on the sheer amount of twisters, the size of the hail, and the never-ending raging of the wind, the other countries leaders’ need no second warning. The threat of bloodshed and slaughter of villages is not enough to stop a countries intrusions, those situations could be controlled, but the mere thought of attempting anything during an out of control storm like this? It leaves strong men shivering and non-believers praying to any god who will listen.

The sky knows no mercy in its heartbeat. Thunder beats and roars every minute, covering the screams and crying of those who hear it; lightning to the sky is the same as oxygen to animals, it is a _need_.

(Surrounded by seas and whirlpools, resting on sister volcanoes and demon islands, is a small village. They hear whispers of the storm tearing apart their allied village, Konoha, and smile approvingly. _The skies are dancing and drumming above Konoha in the form of lightning and thunder_ , is what their princess writes to them, _soon there shall be one who is part Wind._

A woman rubs her belly where a child is growing (the name has yet to be decided, but the mother quite likes the sound of Kushina for a girl) and hopes her child is born in a storm. All the most dangerous and world changing people are. Uzushiogakure knows this better than anyone.

But a storm of this level, to be covering a whole nation…

A storm of this scale has not been seen since the births of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Izuna.)

For one single minute, January 25, the world pauses, waiting. The storm has stilled and there is only the sound of soothing words, the feel of sweaty, hot hands wrapped firmly in larger, nervous shaking ones; the command of ‘ _Push, Push, one more time and-‘_

A soft cry fills a bedroom.

 _‘A boy._ ’

The storm continues to rage.

 

 _A good thing you don’t want him to become a shinobi,_ the midwife tells the new parents as she packs her bags. She has been staying over at the house for two weeks in case the baby came during the storm, but now the storm has ceased and it was finally safe for her to travel home.

 _What do you mean?_ Asks the mother nervously. _Is something wrong with his chakra?_

_Oh, no no, no cause for worry, dear. Just an old wives tale we shinobi have. You’re both in perfect health._

But the midwife has intrigued the couple now, they ask her what the tale is. She huffs out a breath, slightly annoyed. The midwife has not been home to see her children in fourteen and half days, but she consents to telling them anyway.

Different lands have different ways to interpret what a child will become at the time of birth. Most are wrong. After all, how could weather or how many siblings it already has predict its entire life? But they are signs of what they _could_ become. One possibility among millions. Some people, like the midwife and her entire clan, believe that if one is going to be a strong shinobi, they will be born with a loud voice, screaming for hours at the top of their lungs just after their birth. _Your son_ , the midwife states with absolute certainty, _was born mewling like a kitten. If he were to ever become a shinobi, he wouldn’t make it past chunin._

The couple stare as the midwife walks past them and out the door, patting the little head of blond in the mother’s arms as she does. _Have a nice day._

The baby wriggles in its burrito wrap, opening grayish blue eyes. They haven’t settled on a color yet, but when they do, the world will see the brightest azure any human has ever had. His parents look down at the little thing, and the baby gives a toothless smile.

 _My little Minato_ , the mother whispers. Her husband wraps his arms around his small family and they stay in that position for a long while.

For a moment they are happy.

 

Four years later, the mother is rushed to the hospital after a particularly bad miscarriage. She contracts a sickness over the hours in the hospital and two days later she is pronounced dead. _A broken heart_ , the nurses whisper.

The funeral is small, only a few family friends and neighbors are gathered together. Neither of the boy’s parents had any contact with their old families. They thought it wouldn’t have mattered.

It does matter though, because the husband of the dead woman already had a tendency to drink but now it’s _worse_ and the little boy _doesn’t know what to do_. _(Doesn’t his father care about him at all? Does anyone anymore?)_ It takes a total two months of grieving for the little boy to realize that power has been cut from the house and the water hasn’t been working for two days. He never realized the importance of water bottles, but now he understands.

All around the village, he asks what has happened, but when he finally gets an answer, he is furious. The day after he stomps into his home and starts screaming at his father _(_ to _get up! Get up, don’t you want us to live! You have to work! Please get up, what would mama say, Daddy, please!),_ he has large bruises blooming over his arms, neck, and heart. The little four year old has always been too smart for his age. He never asks anything from his father again for a _very_ long time. It’s the stuff of nightmares. But he does ask his mother’s best friend to help him set up a lemonade stand. _For fun_ , he says.

Every day during that year’s spring, summer, and early fall, he sets the stand up somewhere different. It gets him ten dollars on bad days and seventy on a good one. His mother had a note pad she would write things on, somewhere on the fridge. Minato finds it and begins composing a list of the most fruitful places to sell. There aren’t any words, because Minato prefers doodles of shops or statues over words. The doodles are that of good places, crowded places. He uses the money to buy food, and more water bottles and lemons.

 

One day, he spots his father stumbling into a store that is stacked to the top with weirdly shaped bottles. It is the first time he has seen his father outside of the house in months. Right next to it is a tall house with pretty ladies dressed in very little. His father heads there next.

 _“Excuse me,”_ he asks a man passing by, “ _What is that place.”_

The man laughs and says he’s still a bit too young to be having anything to do with that place. And ‘ _hey, what’s a kid your age doing around this part of town on his own?_

Minato leaves blushing.

 

That month, October, is the first time he learns how to get the electricity back on, not that he does. A man at the library began to teach him the ins and outs of financial stuff every Tuesday from three to five P.M., and he wants to make sure he understands _everything_ before he acts. The man’s daughter, a teacher at the civilian school, begins teaching him to read and write every Saturday and Sunday (it only takes a month for him to perfectly forge his father’s signature). An older grandmother who lives in Minato’s neighborhood and buys his lemonade every time he’s in the area, starts to make him dinners for two every Thursday and Monday. Minato is ravenous for the warm food, but restrains himself from eating anything from the second plate. It is for his father. Somehow, the man is still around.

When Minato turns five, it is the first time the electricity has been on since it went off. It was a mild winter, but he’s glad he doesn’t have to bundle under thin blankets throughout the night shivering anymore. Lemonade isn’t sold during the wintery months, but he’s saved up enough money to buy food when he really needs it. He goes out in bundles of too small clothes and sneakily places extra blankets on his fathers’ bed, he loves the man after all. The two no longer talk, but while Minato’s heart cracks a little more every day, he distracts himself by talking to all his neighbors. Asking how they are, remembering little facts about them. Soon, without him realizing it, the neighbors are talking about him all over town. Most who hear about him forget about him as soon as they leave the conversation, who cares about some little brat?

But there is a woman, one single woman who begins to ask questions. The people tell her his name is Namikaze Minato. He is five years old and born January 25, during that horrible storm. _Is it now?_ She says with a smile as sharp as knives. _How very interesting_.

Uzumaki Mito remembers when, for one single minute, there had been absolute silence outside her home in Konoha.

 

The first day he starts at the Academy, Minato is bombarded by his younger peers as to why he’s in their class. _You stupid or something? Get held back?_ Are the main ones.

He is eight now, and the only reason he is here is because Uzumaki Mito thought it would do good. To whom would it benefit? Well, Minato didn’t like asking those kinds of questions, and he hardly ever liked the answer. But Mito-hime was nice and had a powerful feel about her that made Minato want to bow in the utmost respect all the time-not that he ever did, because his eyes were just big enough to notice how people who bowed to someone all the time, always ended up doing something against that very person they bowed to; Minato didn’t want Mito think he would ever betray her like that. She was trust worthy. And her judgment was always sound, so he didn’t think there was any cause to worry about going to the Academy as she had recommended.

He responds to the questions by saying, ’ _No, I am not stupid. This is my first year, I have started late but I look forward to being your friend!’_

The class had giggled.

 _Well,_ Minato had frowned. _If they don’t believe me, I’ll just have to show them._

 

It’s about half way through the year when the Academy teachers start practically gloating to the Order of Desk Shinobi about how there is one little boy in the first year that gets A’s in everything. _He’s even taking second year homework home and completing it! One of our second year teachers has been allowing him to take the second year tests with his class. His first spar is coming up next week, if he’s as good at sparring as he is good at application, we may just have a prodigy on our hands._

News spreads fastest in shinobi villages. None so fast as in Konoha. So when the day comes for the maybe-prodigy’s first spar, the village appears to be holding its breath.

Every year, the Hokage and his council watch over the very first and very last spars of the second year class. When they arrive on that day, they are meet with students crowding around another student with bright blond hair as if they have never seen him before. _Namikaze Minato,_ one of the sensei’s inform the Hokage. _He’s been attending all the classes for the first year course, but he’s been completing the homework and tests for both first and second year. I apologize in advance, Hokage-same, I, nor anyone I’ve spoken to, have trained the boy. There simply wasn’t time with his or our busy schedules._

Sarutobi Hiruzen smiles amusedly at the sensei, then at the blond. He admires the hard-work of the youngling, the Will of Fire burns strongest in those who work hardest toward their goal, but it’d take a miracle for the boy to impress the Konoha council. To make them start calling him a prodigy.

A miracle does not occur. Miracles do not often exist in a shinobi’s life.

 

Namikaze Minato is the last to perform. His opponent is Wang Hana. Neither are from a shinobi clan, but the only important difference between the two of them is this; Wang Hana has had sparing lessons throughout the first half of the year, during and after school. Minato has not.

He lasts a good ten seconds.

Hana laughs and so do the other children. Any of the sensei’s who had come to watch sigh in disappointment. Apparently the blond wasn’t so great after all. They should’ve known better to assume.

It is not a half day, but the second year students are told to go home. They shuffle out, still snickering at the blond who lays on his back, gazing up at the sky. After talking to the teachers, the council eventually leaves as well. The Hokage spares half a look on the blond and for a moment he feels sorrow. But he turns his head away and does not look back. Sarutobi Hiruzen would have once comforted and attempted to cheer the boy up. But he is the Hokage, and a Hokage is not allowed to have softness.

 

Minato does not take in anything for a good many minutes. He vaguely recalls several teachers coming up to him, but they had left when he refused to do so much of anything. So now he is alone, with his thoughts. Except-

“That was the most pitiful thing ever.”

Minato blinks up at the person who has caused a shadow to fall over him. It’s a girl.

She has long black hair that falls down her back in pretty waves, and dark eyes that glitter in harsh amusement. The smirk she wears causes Minato to sit up warily. There have been several times he’s seen people smirk like that, and the person on the receiving end has never turned out well. She shifts her stance, placing her hands on her hips and tilting her head. As she does so, Minato catches a glimpse of a fan stitched into the arm of her blue shirt. The smirk hasn’t left.

“Are you properly ashamed of yourself for putting on a bad show?”

Minato frowns at her. “I’m not ashamed. Why should I be? No one offered to teach me, and I was never told we would have a spar today.”

The girl hums in thoughtfulness.

Minato remembers her now. She is a clan child from the Uchiha, one of the first to spar. One of the first to win. The members of the council had whispered amongst themselves after her win, impressed looks upon their faces. All but one that is. At the Academy, when spars occur, students are paired up with those of matching overall grades. For instance, the top student would be paired with the second top student, the dead-last would be paired with the student directly above him. Most of the time that is. The proceeding spars start with best of the class, working their way down to the worst. When the Uchiha girl had sparred second instead of first, it was clear she was not the top student. Uchiha Fudo member of the council and head of the Uchiha clan, was most displeased with this. As impossible as it was, Uchiha Fudo desired to see all members of his clan to be better than the rest.

Minato had seen the nervous looks the girl had been casting over to her Clan Head throughout the day. Suddenly, she wasn’t nearly as threatening.

“Why are you still here?”

This causes her smirk to sharpen. She holds out a hand to him, it is clammy and shaking when he takes it. A harsh wind blows at them despite the day’s previous sunny disposition.

“The name is Uchiha Mikoto. I’m going to teach you everything I know.”

A storm is rolling in.

 

Mikoto leads him to a small restaurant he has never been to in order to take refuge from the downpour. From there they begin planning. It takes them a good many minutes to come up with a schedule that works for the both of them. Mikoto explains she is taught to fight by her father and elder brother every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school. She proceeds to say she learns from the women of her clan every Tuesday night, after training sessions on Wednesday, and all day every other Saturday. Early Sunday mornings are reserved to tending her personal garden and then the community garden.

Minato is amazed by her schedule. In comparison, his workload seems measly. Every Monday through Wednesday after school, Minato goes straight to the civilian library so he can complete thirty minutes of homework before starting work-it is mostly just replacing books, organizing, and the occasional cleaning of the bathroom. There is hardly any long term interactions with other people and most of the time he is standing around, doodling on a piece of notebook. There is a new organization in Konoha meant for wealthy civilians. The House Cleaners Society for Those Who Wish to Save Money, T.H.C.S.T.W.W.S.M, otherwise known as The House Cleaners, advertises specifically to large compounds that wealthy, non-paranoid civilians simply have no time to clean themselves. Minato was allowed to join the ‘workforce’ at such a young age due to limited cleaners. Now that he had experience and was good at the job, Minato worked every Thursday and Friday night with a team of older men and woman to clean family homes.

Mikoto interrupts with a small, ‘ _What the fuck.’_

The blond explains that because there are so many other men and woman in his team (four total) the cleaning is pretty easy. Minato finds it calming, especially because no one is in the house as they do so.

Mikoto still has a look of ‘what’ on her face, but politely asks if this means he is free on Saturdays and Sundays.

‘ _Only currently,’_ he replies. Minato is a typical child in that he can’t sit still for long. He has to be doing something at all times. Minato is also a typical child in that he likes doing new, fun things. Minato is not a typical child because he likes to apply these things to work. He is eight and has been working almost half his life, he already knows when something will or will not be useful in the future. Might as well try to apply fun, useful things to work rather than boring ones. So he has an interview this Saturday with the woman who own a tea shop that caters to shinobi. If all goes well, he’ll be able to work Saturdays and Sundays.

He says nothing of being a typical or non-typical child, because Minato has always believed himself to be perfectly normal in the grand scheme of things. He does, however, mention all of the rest to Mikoto just as the food arrives. They pause to eat, stuffing the food into their mouths because there is a break in the clouds and both feel uncomfortable with the amount of attention they are beginning to receive. It is odd, even in the village of Konoha, to see two eight year olds, sitting by themselves in a restaurant, having what appears to be a very adult conversation. They do not realize it, but the restaurant is owned by the Akimichi clan. By default, it is a popular place among shinobi, who although unusual in many ways themselves, tend to keep an eye on unusual happening in the areas around them.

By the time Minato and Mikoto will finally draw up a schedule for the two of them-every Sunday, starting at noon and going to six-there will be a drawing of the two of them in full color on the Hokage’s desk. He will give a chuckle but dismiss the two as having a childish conversation with money given to them by their parents. It is a logical conclusion, one many adults have when anything to do with children are involved. But it will be the wrong conclusion. It will be the second time Sarutobi Hiruzen has allowed Namikaze Minato to slip through his grasp. When the third opportunity comes, it will be the last.

Uzumaki Mito will enter the room minutes later in her usual graceful way for a meeting with the council, it will concern her age and the beast that rest within her. When she sees the drawing, forgotten off to the side afterward, she will sneak it into her sleeve and smile a promise to the universe. Uchiha Kagami, friend and former teammate to the Hokage, will notice. He will ask her about the drawing and he will recognize his niece Mikoto talking to an unfamiliar boy. _Namikaze Minato,_ Mito will inform him.

‘ _You like him.’_ It is not a question. _‘I had heard that several Academy teachers were hoping he’d be a prodigy. Let them down apparently.’_

Uzumaki Mito will smile a smile that only another Uzumaki would be able to interpret, and she will say, ‘ _Only for now, Kagami. He reminds me of two Senju we both once knew.’_

When the third opportunity for Sarutobi Hiruzen to snatch up and mold Namikaze Minato arrives, it will be too late.

Namikaze Minato, a boy with too knowing eyes and smile as bright as the sun, will have chosen to follow his own path with the guidance of Uzumaki Mito and the protection of Uchiha Kagami.

_‘Because I only have one day out of seven to teach you, you’re going to have to promise to do some training on your own.’_

Uchiha Mikoto will say it with a stern face, finger pointed directly at Minato’s nose. The blond will laugh nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

_‘I’ll train as hard as you want me to, Mikoto-chan.’_

**Author's Note:**

> This is pretty much the summary of the background that will occur later in this series.  
> Also, while I really like the idea of Minato growing up in the Orphanage, for the purpose of this story I need him to have at least one parent alive.  
> This'll be great, gentle people! Super excited!


End file.
